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@ Gary
2024-07-15 22:25:18Welcome to The Refinery.
The Church The Body of Christ has been the theme for the last few Sunday’s.
These messages are primarily based around Paul’s letter to the Ephesians.
Today we are discussing, The Peace Of The Church.
Text
1 Thessalonians 5:13 NKJV
13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
Scripture Reading
1 Thessalonians 5:1-13 NKJV
The Day of the Lord
1 But concerning the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I should write to you.
2 For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night.
3 For when they say, “Peace and safety!” then sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains upon a pregnant woman. And they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.
7 For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.
8 But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet the hope of salvation.
9 For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
10 who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him.
11 Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.
Various Exhortations
12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
Introduction.
I read a story recently of a pastor - evangelist who was holding meetings in a small rural town in Kentucky back in the 1940’s.
He was in the home of one of the oldest families in the area and to his delight, he discovered that some member of the family had been a deacon in that church for more than 100 years.
Think of that legacy for the family, someone throughout the generations had been serving in the local church for more than 100 years.
The church had kept records since 1839, when it first started, and it was in the family’s care.
For the visiting pastor, the book was interesting reading.
In the minutes of almost every business meeting, the same entry appeared.
“The peace of the church was called for.”
The visiting pastor was told that the moderator of the business meetings would ask, “Brethren, are we at peace?”
No one knew what might follow.
I have no doubt that their meetings were interesting and well attended.
But whatever the shortcomings of these people, in what ever way they may have fallen short, they sincerely tried to carry out the literal words of our text.
They meant to have peace if they had to fight with each other to obtain it.
If these people were too strict when it comes to church discipline, perhaps our churches today are too soft, too lazy.
I think there are three things we can consider from our text today.
Firstly, the spirit of this text cannot be enforced by force.
No peace of any sort can be either secured or maintained by force.
Those who try and enforce “the peace of the church” cause trouble and wound as many saints as they convert sinners.
Secondly, this text presupposes an autonomous, independent, democratic body.
The words “be at peace among yourselves” addressed to any other group would make no sense.
Who else besides a plain, simple, New Testament church, where every member is equal in rank and privilege with every other member, a pure democracy, would even have the privilege of being at war among themselves.
Thirdly, the status of peace, the degree of fellowship within the church, is difficult to analyse.
Sometimes a churches like a shallow, clear mountain stream where every ripple can be seen.
At other times, a church may be like a deep, muddy river, calm and placid on the surface but torn by dangerous undercurrents.
“Be at peace among yourselves.”
This text provokes three important questions.
- What does this text mean?
The answer should be considered both negatively and positively.
Firstly, negatively.
Peace is not the painlessness of inertia and lifelessness.
A church may appear to be at peace when in reality it is dead!
Peace is a living thing, positive and dynamic, fruitful and productive.
Peace is not the stupor of unconcern and indifference.
To have the spiritual senses stupefied is not to be at peace.
Peace is not the negative spirit of leaving an issue alone.
In every church there are those who retreat to the safety of a judicial position, refusing either to be quoted of to get involved.
But cowardly retreat is not peace!
Secondly, positively.
The text implies the peace of a good conscience, resulting from a faithful and consistent walk before God as a Christian.
Paul put all this together in his epistles.
John demonstrated the connection between a worthy walk and peace in 1 John 1:7, But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
1 Corinthians 3:3 says, for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?
When we walk like this we violate “the peace of the church.”
If a Christian doesn’t have the peace of a good conscience, what else matters?
The text implies the peace of an individual heart.
Jesus said, “Blessed are the pure in heart” in Matthew 5:8.
Pure means being undivided, entire, without anything added.
“Blessed are the undivided in heart.”
Thirdly, the text implies the peace of a contented mind resulting from the knowledge of having done our best for Christ while serving Him in His church.
People who work together get together and stay together.
They have to because even a donkey cannot kick when it is pulling or pull the it is kicking.
2. Why is this test so necessary to a church?
“Be at peace among yourselves.”
Any other state of affairs in a church is a horrendous blow, both to the church as a body and to the individual members.
Why?
First, For the sake of our growth in the grace and knowledge of Christ.
We are commanded to grow in 2 Peter 3:18.
We do not grow while we are on a spiritual hunger strike.
Some of the church try this with God, they go on a spiritual hunger strike.
He is not impressed, and they hurt only themselves.
Second, For the sake of our witness as a church before the world.
It is unthinkable that a child of God should have no resemblance to their Father.
Paul said in 1 Corinthians 14:33, ** **For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.
Jesus taught in Matthew 5:9, Blessed are the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
True peacemakers are “sons of God” and are recognised as such.
For peacemakers not to be at peace among themselves is an unthinkable contradiction.
Third, for the sake of the effectiveness of the church as a soul winning agency.
To whom did Christ give His Great Commission?
His church.
To whom did our Lord commit the task of winning people to Him?
His church, and only His church.
Paul asked the Corinthians in 1 Corinthians 14:8, For if the trumpet makes an uncertain sound, who will prepare for battle?
How likely is the world to hear the message and understand it if there is discord in the ranks?
3. How can we apply this text to our lives?
How can we be at peace among ourselves in the church?
We can be at peace with God within ourselves as members of the church.
In the church at Philippi there were two women, Euodia, meaning fragrant, and Syntyche, meaning fortunate, who had some form of disagreement, and it seems to have been more than a personal matter.
Paul was impartial.
He said simply, in Philippians 4:2, I implore Euodia and I implore Syntyche to be of the same mind in the Lord.
He was saying to Be United, Joyful, and in Prayer.
This was necessary for the peace of the church because these women had been active members.
We have a consciousness of Christian love that will rule out strife by putting others first.
Jesus said, in But you, do not be called ‘Rabbi’; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren.
Paul’s admonition to the Philippians that they “be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind” would bring peace to any church anywhere.
1 John 3:14, We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.
We can be at peace through a common loyalty to the supreme head, Christ.
Colossians 1:18, And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
Jesus said, in Matthew 23:10, And do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ.
Christ is the only true point of fellowship.
If we talk with Him, we will be at peace.
1 John 1:7, But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
Conclusion.
If some of the church fathers were too concerned about “the peace of the church” and how to maintain it, we are too unconcerned.
Paul’s injunction still applies.
This text, 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 is as relevant and important as it ever was.
12 And we urge you, brethren, to recognize those who labor among you, and are over you in the Lord and admonish you,
13 and to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. Be at peace among yourselves.
Until next time
Stay in the Blessings
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2024 IS A YEAR OF DECISIONS AND OPEN DOORS
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